


Thea

by biprincess



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 17:50:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7855030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biprincess/pseuds/biprincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different take on Thea and the Lazarus Pit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thea

Everyone is watching.

I can feel their beady eyes on me as I sink closer and closer to the water, hear their breaths hitch as I get so close that I can feel the water's heat. The steam wraps itself around me in greeting, and if I'm completely honest with you? I kind of want them all to fuck off.

I open my eyes, and the ceiling I am looking at is ornately decorated. It is arched as well; and at the point where all the arches meet is a window, small, but I can still see the stars.  
The colors of the ceiling move around until I squeeze my eyes shut, giving everything time right itself; and when I open them again, I realize that it's an array of red and gold; black and gold, white and gold. Delicate swirls, intricate drawings too far away to make out; clouds, suns, moons...and demons. It is incredible, stunning. It truly takes my breath away.

But no, seriously. Where the hell am I?

I turn my head to the left, and pain radiates down my spine. I see nothing but a stone wall; I have suffered that pain for nothing. I begin to turn the other way. My chest, especially, screams its retaliation this time. Like someone is laying stone upon stone on top of me. But the pain appears to be worth my while this time, because I make eye contact with someone immediately; a woman wearing a dark red veil over her face, so thick that I am surprised to even be able to see her eyes; but when I do, when I settle on her, she screams. Loudly, so loudly it actually shocks me, and it shocks the people lowering me because I stop centimeters from the waters surface.

I sit up.

More people scream. I hear some of them gasp; some of them start to back away, like I am threatening them. The only similarity between everybody in this room is that they all look horrified, like I am being burned alive or something, and I don't understand at all. Not that I can read their minds or anything, but if I had to guess I would say that they don't want me here as much as I don't want to be here. I study them all, with searching eyes, and finally, they rest on someone familiar. Someone they recognize, someone they know.  
They have settled on a man with short brown hair cropped close to his head. He stands rigid, brooding, and incredibly well built. His eyes are the color of the ocean, which I know only because he is staring directly at me, daring me to notice him. at me. They, too are familiar; they are my own.  
He continues to watch me with a look of wonder, tinged with a hint of fear. The short, curvy, blonde haired woman next to him takes off her glasses, breathes on them, and rubs them with her shirt; when she puts them back on, I am still here. An intimidatingly large black man with a build better than the boy I know opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water, trying to search for any words at all. Two stunning women who I think are sisters; the shorter one looks angry and the taller one looks like she may be in shock. There is one boy I can't tell you about because he will not look up from the floor, and the oldest man, tall and in charge, he watches me with a mix of adoration and love.

But the first man.

I know him, what's his name again? Think. Think. Think. Think, Thea. Remember.

And I do. I land on it.

"Ollie." I whisper.

I stand on the wood beneath me (to a collective gasp from the people), so I can go over to him, wobbling a little bit until the woods accommodates its newfound weight; the wood shows no sign that it'll give underneath me. The white dress that I have been changed into billows at my ankles, Jesus, what is this? I look like a church going virgin. So not me. And furthermore, where are my shoes? Why aren't I wearing any shoes?

Ollie scans me, up and down, and so do his friends - they're amazed by me. Apparently I am doing something I am awe inspiring. I don't feel like I am doing anything special; honestly I just kind of want something to eat. I am ravenous; I could really go for some In-N-Out.  
I cannot read the expressions on everyone else's faces, because they are all shrouded in black. The woman I made eye contact with keeps looking at a man draped in black and gold, almost like she is waiting for some kind of explanation, and he does not give her one. "Demon." she presses, through clenched teeth. "What is this?"  
He still gives her nothing.

I want to go to Ollie. Maybe he will give me something. 

So I step off the plank, and wait for the brief fall before I am enveloped in water. But that is not what happens.

I simply step off of the plank and onto the water; and across it, and down the steps, and I stand silent before the masses, giving them their moment to judge me completely, while I try to make sense of how the fuck I just walked on water.

It is easier to accept that they scared of me now; because after that, I am, too. I accept that they are fearful. Wide eyed. Trembling in their boots, even though they are all weighted down with weapons. More weapons than I can count. I take note of some with swords taller than I am, people bigger than I will ever be, and these grown men are afraid of me, short and tiny Thea Queen.

I take a testing step toward them; the crowd backs away at the same time, like they all have one mind, like they planned to do so beforehand.

Another; and they back up further.

The fear I have for myself grows even more when they do this - and I decide that I should not go over to Ollie in front of all these people. What if I'm sick, and that why none of these people will touch me? What if I am sick and go over to Ollie and I give him whatever it is that I might have? I do not want to take that risk.

So I hesitate, unsure.

Then I take a deep breath. 

"I do not understand why you are scared of me." I say, my voice carrying throughout the room. It doesn't feel like my own, because I sound like a leader; nonetheless, I continue on. "But for whatever I have done, I am truly sorry. I just want to go home."

Silence.

"Do you understand?" I ask. "I just want to go home."

Nothing.

I shift my weight between my feet. I don't know what to do or say next, and no one seems to want to talk to me, so I glance over at Ollie and his friends, practically begging, pleading, for some sort of direction.

He obliges.

He takes a tentative step towards me, even when the cute blonde girl tries to hold him back. Another, even though the attractive black male shakes his head; don't do this.  
The two blondes look to each other; the oldest man of the group practically bores holes into me, he has yet to take his eyes off of me. Pretty boy is tearing up now, but offers no resistance. 

And suddenly Ollie stands before me. Tall, overshadowing, trying to understand. But I do not think too much about that; because if he is here that means I am not sick. I feel a wave of relief rush over me, and I just wrap my arms around him in a hug so comforting that it gives me the only bit of calm that I have felt throughout this entire ordeal.

"It's not possible." he murmurs, quietly, into my hair. "It's just not possible."

"What?" I say, pulling away only so I can look at him. "Ollie, what is it? You're seriously freaking me out."

He tries to laugh, but it comes out ragged, brash, and short lived. 

"Really." he says, flatly. "I'm freaking you out."

I nod. "Yeah, you are. Everyone's freaking me out; I have absolutely no idea what's going on here."

He doesn't seem to even hear my words. I swear to you that his eyes glaze over, and he pushes me away, keeps me at arm's length.

"Do you remember anything, Thea?" his voice sounds far away, like he's talking to me from a distance. "Anything at all?"

I open my mouth to answer immediately; no, I don't remember anything; but then I decide that I should actually think back. Do I remember a single moment before waking up here, no matter how small? No, no I don't.

But wait, wait, that's not right - I do, I do remember something.

Ollie. I see him, us, as kids; playing in a sandbox. Running around playing hide and seek in a big, empty mansion. Eating and laughing and studying together, for a school that I can't recollect.

"Yes." I finally answer, after the slideshow of memory ends. "I remember you."

He withdraws like I hit him. "But no one - nothing - else? What about any of those people over there, do you recognize any of them?"

His friends. 

I shake my head. "Should I?"

He closes his eyes. "Yes. Yes, you should."

"But I don't." I whisper. "Ollie, what the fuck is going on? Please, please tell me what is going on."

He takes a deep breath and lets me go. His eyes are still closed like he can't bear the sight of me, can't bear to look at. I wait.

He opens his mouth, and my name falls out; and he's just about to tell me when one of the black hooded men in front of me falls to his knees, causing Oliver to pause and tilt his head in wonder, and leaving me explanationless, because now I have to attend to this.  
I don't think he's hurt; I see no blood, and he makes no sounds of agony. If I'm honest with you, I...I think he's kneeling. When he unsheathes his sword and lays it across his knee, I know for sure that I am being bowed to. 

I'm just about to tell him to stand when another person hits their knees. I watch in bewilderment as they all begin to fall to the floor,in quick, rapid fire succession, including the gorgeous woman draped in crimson and the man she called Demon; they bow to me, bow at my feet, and I watch the entire room fall to me, like I am their queen, until everyone is kneeling except for me, Ollie, and his friends.

A small part of me wants to tell all of them to stand; But I do not. Instead, I lean over in Oliver's direction. 

"What are they doing?" I say under my breath.

He looks out at the sea of the people in black like he is standing before the ocean, almost astounded. "I'm not sure." he responds. "I have...absolutely no idea."

"What are you doing?" I say, directing the question to the man at my feet.

He does not answer. I reach out and touch his shoulder, then repeat my question. "What are you doing?"

He slowly lifts his gaze from the floor. It feels like an eternity before he finally lets them reach me. His eyes are forest green, and when I look further beyond that, deep into them, I see that they are completely vacant. No one lives in his body; and if I had to guess, I would say that no one lives in any of these bodies.

When he decides to speak, his voice is deep and booming.

"I am kneeling before the new Ra's Al Ghul." he says.

Who the fuck is Ra's Al Ghul?

I briefly glance over to Ollie. It is obvious that he now knows what's happening; who Ra's Al Ghul is, even though I do not. Ollie clearly does not want this, which means that I probably don't either. 

"The demon." he says, looking at the crowd with newfound understanding. "The demon."

I furrow my eyebrows. For real, someone better tell me what the hell is going on right now, and stop losing their goddamn minds, before I lose mine.

"Who is the new Ras Al' Ghul?" I demand, desperate to understand. My words are said slow, like they know that I don't want to hear the answer. "Who?"

The man at my feet smiles. It's not a real smile, though; it's more...evil. I feel like he knows something that I do not, something that will get me killed, something that will ruin me and everything I know.

"You." he answers, after a minute of quiet. "It's you."

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to hear your opinions!


End file.
